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How knowing your authentic heart can make you shine

July 18, 2017

authentic heart

Knowing the authentic heart of you, the centrepiece, helps you to focus, prioritise and combine your unique threads so you can shine.

There are some central components of you that come together that are pivotal to how you want to work and shine. And there’s often that one piece that lights up the others from within and makes sense of them all.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the authentic heart lately, this unique core that coalesces all the others. It seems the energy is right for getting clear on what really matters: the piece that spins and drives all the others. The one that makes you shine and polishes everything else into a shiny constellation of stars and planets.

Sometimes it takes a little searching and reflecting.

The journey back 

About a year ago, I began a journey of transition back to a life that more fully reflects me. Work had taken over and important pieces of me were missing in action. I’m reading David Whyte’s Crossing the Unknown Sea right now. These words I read last night described how I felt when that time hit:

When you get to the bottom, you’ll find everything you’ve disowned and thrown away from yourself lying around on the ground. (P126)

I’ve talked about wholehearted and how this means so much to me. It’s about being whole and finding our meaning, whether it be in work or other contexts. For me, this time was the opposite. You could call it stress or burnout, but I reached a point where the person I was, day in, day out, was not what I wanted to be.

So I began the search to gather back the pieces that were missing.

Beacons of light and stepping stones

In the solitude spaces of my busy days, I searched for the authentic parts that were missing in action. My long commute became the kernel of the way back.

I listened to podcasts that kept my writing ambitions alive especially The Creative Penn. I’ve enjoyed this podcast for years as a beacon for the life I want. Its host, Joanna Penn is the role model who shows me it’s possible. I know I can achieve this – living a writing life, having a self-sustaining creative lifestyle. So when unable to do this immediately, I learned about this way of being and writing as much as I could, every day on my way to work. It was a practical way of keeping the dream alive.

Elizabeth Gilbert, her Big Magic book and Magic Lessons podcast were also lighthouses that helped me find my way. Driving through the national park where I live, heading to the train, I had moments of realisation that kept the trail bright. In one episode, there was a conversation about being on the runway for a long time which hit straight to my heart. I felt like I’ve been preparing forever. The reminder that ‘the action is here’ was poignant. I realised that the time for creativity is now.

My friend, Victoria Smith kept me going through this period via her course Softly Wild. It helped me connect pieces I had lost and discover new ones. I also reached out to Victoria for help with life coaching through a coaching series. It was time to identify the transition path back to my wholehearted self. Victoria had been through similar experiences. With her experience and skill, she could help light the way and hold my hand on the journey.

authentic heart

The authentic heart of me

I identified a path back about nine months ago. It involved transitioning to a self-sustaining creative lifestyle. It had as its core tenets: writing, life coaching, personality/Myers-Briggs Type Indicator certification and intuition skills via tarot.

I identified the key elements of learning as:

  • Beautiful You Life Coaching Academy course
  • Certification in personality type assessment (MBTI) via the Majors Personality Type Inventory based on Jung/Myers-Briggs theory
  • A deep dive into the intuitive art of tarot (via daily practice, study and Susannah Conway’s 78 Mirrors e-course)

And the central element and authentic heart of it all was writing. Quiet writing: my practice, my discipline and the sharing of this; the ability to produce books, blog posts and other pieces that reflected my heart. Writing as quiet influence, as voice, creating my story and sharing it.

In recent weeks, I’ve been circling back to writing as the authentic heart as I finish my Beautiful You Life Coaching course and refine my business focus. And coaching has helped me to define this. As part of completing our Beautiful You certification requirements, I chose to work with writing coach Caroline Donahue to make sure this authentic heart of Quiet Writing was not lost in transition.

Writing daily as my creative practice and working on larger creative non-fiction pieces and writing a novel is central to my business. If I’m not authentically and creatively me – writing day in and day out, showing up, making time for the longer pieces I have outlined or the ones there in my heart, it’s not genuine. I am only able to help others with their creative lives and careers through my own writing and coaching practice of living this every day.

Writing as creative practice

So as I further craft my coaching and writing business, its brand and focus, I know that writing is the authentic heart. It’s why my business name and website is Quiet Writing. The twin hemispheres of writing and coaching, joined by the thread of creativity, are at the centre. But writing is the heartbeat and leader. It’s about the process of becoming, of artistry, of being more wholehearted in the every day, crafting and creating ourselves and our lives. And if I am not doing that myself through my own creative practice, it’s a hollow story.

I’m always writing in my life in some way but recently, I’ve started showing up to writing more. I start the day with journaling via Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages now. It’s been calling to me for a while and I knew it was what I had to do. It’s a kind of first principle – the first lesson in Susan M. Tiberghien’s One Year to a Writing Life.

The first step towards a writing life – and its foundation – is journal writing. To write well takes practice….Your daily life calls you in a thousand directions; journal writing centers you.

It seems so obvious and so simple. And as Julia Cameron explains, it is:

Morning Pages provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize and synchronize the day at hand. Do not over-think Morning Pages: just put three pages of anything on the page…and then do three more pages tomorrow.

The power of writing these three pages before doing anything else is immense. I’m connecting deeply, I’m resolving things, I’m writing poetry which I haven’t done for a while and I’m freeing myself up for other writing.

I’ve committed to Tarot Narratives each day on Instagram. This is writing centred around tarot and oracle and crafting a creative, intuitive message linked to a book or other influence. It’s a practice I was doing anyway each day so it made sense to share it to inspire others’ creativity. The synchronicity and creative connection have been amazing. It’s now a deep part of my creative practice, linking intuition and writing.

I’m writing two blog posts a week here and I’m working on guest blog posts as well. This practice of showing up here at Quiet Writing in a committed, deep way is helping creative flow. I feel I am hitting my writing stride more comfortably now. I’ve struggled with this: is it better to wait till inspiration strikes or commit to two days a week? Well, I’m doing both and seems to be working well for me right now. I am a writer so I need to be writing!

Working on guest blog posts is another way of honing my voice in areas close to my heart: personality, leadership, introvert strengths, intuition, self-leadership, creativity and being wholehearted. Writing for different audiences and contexts is stretching my writing muscles. I’m studying my readability, the headlines I choose and watching my tendency to overuse the passive voice so I can get my message across more clearly.

And in a big shift last week, I’ve realised I have to make my longer creative projects a higher priority. For example, there’s the book I’ve nearly finished for Quiet Writing subscribers on the books that have influenced me; the novel that I want to write that was actually the genesis of all this; and the signature pieces for Quiet Writing that I have outlined, ready to be written and created. Through listening to this podcast and working with my writing coach, Caroline, I’ve committed to making the longer pieces a priority, like an appointment in my calendar.

So writing is my creative practice and I’m finally finding a place for it in my days as a priority.

authentic heart

Discovering our authentic centrepiece

There’s a lot of messages around right now about finding your authentic centrepiece. This week’s post from Nicole Cody is about reclaiming your dreams:

Inside, our dreams continue to burn. Ideas flicker, waiting for a breeze to fan the flame. Our long-neglected interests and hobbies need only a ray of sunshine and a little fresh air to spring back into being.

This week those dreams and longings begin to come back into focus. A little more of ourselves is restored. Our courage grows.

That’s exactly what it feels like for me as I refocus on writing as my centrepiece.

No matter what it is, keeping that light of you burning brightly as your authentic heart will help make sense of so much.

There are so many ways we can discover – or rediscover – our compass or centre around which everything else pivots.

Practical strategies for finding your authentic heart

Here are some practical strategies for finding that centrepiece and authentic heart:

1 Journaling, morning pages, dialoguing with the self

Make time for journaling, morning pages, dialoguing with yourself or any other form of writing to tap into your inner voice. That ability to hear your voice on the page and settle yourself is the source of so much wisdom. The solitude afforded is in itself is a valuable teacher.

2 Working with a Life Coach

As you can see from my story above, working with a Life Coach is such a valuable way to be supported in hearing your inner voice. A coach holds space for you, asks questions to enable reflection and suggests resources and options to explore to help make change. This is a gift of personal investment to enable powerful discovery and behaviour change in line with your goals.

3 Reflecting on the threads that reoccur in your body of work

Identifying the threads that reappear in your life’s work across its manifestations is a valuable way to reflect on your journey and story. As Pamela Slim defines in Body of Work:

Your body of work is everything you create, contribute, affect, and impact.

Taking this broader view of all your contributions and creations enable you to step back and see the passions that drive you. You can identify the common connections and from this, gain a new perspective on life, career and creativity options.

4 Thinking about your shadow career

As Steven Pressfield explains in Turning Pro, sometimes when we’re afraid of our real calling, we’ll follow a shadow career instead. This might mean living the writer’s lifestyle without actually writing or writing in a corporate context when you really want to be writing a novel. My work life in recent years has featured strategic policy writing, speech writing and writing for the media. I enjoyed this writing but it wasn’t the work I really wanted to be doing or the writing of my heart.

As Pressfield says:

If you’re dissatisfied with your current life, ask yourself what your current life is a metaphor for. That metaphor will point you to your true calling. (P13)

5 Thinking about the books you love as clues and evidence 

Think about the books you love as a form of evidence. Look at your bookshelves. What’s the predominant story and style? What’s the genre? Has it been lost along the way? What ignites your heart?

6 Brainstorming and visual maps to find the common threads

Mind-mapping, journaling, vision boards, Pinterest, brainstorming and writing lists are all valuable tools to get to the common threads of your work. Some are more right-brained and some are more left-brained. So mix it up so you can access different angles and see your work from a number of views to uncover the golden threads that connect.

7 Intuitive work such as tarot or oracle to tap into your inner voice

Tarot and oracle are great intuitive tools to tap into your wisdom and listen to your inner voice. Intuitive writing or any other stream of consciousness approach is another way to access your intuition. Regularly making time for the practice of intuition in whatever works for you helps tune into the heart of your creative energies.

8 Writing down what your ideal day looks and feels like

Writing what your ideal day looks like is excellent for insight into what you really want. I’ve done this a few times over the years and the core threads are pretty similar over time. Find out how you really want to spend your time. This helps you recognise it when you start to get glimpses or finally achieve a measure of success. You might have already achieved your ideal day in some respects that you can build on.

9 Tuning into what others are saying about you and your gifts

We get a lot of clues from what people say about us but often we are not fully listening or keeping track. What are others saying they appreciate about you? Your calmness, your ability to listen, your creativity, how they relate to your writing, your use of colour? Pay attention to feedback, keep a record and notice what is being reflected back as insight into your gifts and purpose.

What’s your authentic heart?

So what’s your authentic heart? The practice, the creative work, the combining principle, the thread that ties it all together?

That sense of cut-through to the new idea or recurring touchstone that will help shape everything. It may have already arrived or might be in the process of evolving. It might be an awareness, a piece around self-belief, maybe a forgotten love, that’s become buried in the busy layers of your day.

It’s about finding our passion, our fire and being open to it. It’s true all this integration can be a little tiring, so take a rest when you need to. Just stepping away and resting or exercising, can be clarifying and help the central narrative or missing piece fall into place in a practical way.

So I’d love to hear:

Where are you keeping a light in your heart?

What are the beacons in your day showing the way back to?

What are the shadows showing up and highlighting?

What’s the authentic heart and centrepiece for you?

Keep in touch

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If you were moved by this post, please share via your preferred social media channel – links are below.

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Intuition, writing and work: eight ways intuition can guide your creativity

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Creative and Connected #4 – the wholehearted edition

Feature image via pexels.com and used with permission and thanks.

creativity inspiration & influence intuition

An invitation to mastery – Full Moon in Scorpio tarot reading

May 12, 2017
full moon scorpio

The Full Moon in Scorpio invites us think about how we move towards mastery. This tarot reading for the full moon reflects on ways to embrace our power.

Here are some thoughts on this Full Moon in Scorpio from Mystic Mamma to set the scene for the energies available to us:

*FULL MOON* in SCORPIO opens a gateway to our truest depths, where we can really tune in to our hearts deepest desires, and gleam our truest reflection.

If we can take this time to sit with ourselves, and be truthful about all we reject and deny, we can uncover, untangle and reclaim ourselves in our fullness.

We are both light and shadow, dancing and meeting each other in each other, to be ultimately reconciled within.

This dance is one of mastery, a blossoming and continuous unfoldment…

Scorpio reminds us to take pleasure in the journey and allow our watery depths to surface, cleanse, heal and empower.

I love the words “this dance is one of mastery”. The word ‘mastery’ has been floating around me for a while now, especially around ‘invitation to mastery’. This is a phrase from Colette Baron-Reid’s The Enchanted Map oracle guidebook that spoke to me deeply some time ago and has stayed with me.

This Scorpio Full Moon provides a fabulous opportunity to work with our intentions, our long-held goals and to step into our power. It seems to be about light and shadow, reconciling opposites and moving on and through.

Full moon in Scorpio tarot reading tools:

It’s important to get the tools that feel right for the journey to tarot guidance. Though of course your intuition and the Full Moon itself are a fabulous start and the most essential ingredients!

For my reading for the Scorpio Full Moon I worked with:

This Scorpio Full Moon tarot spread by Sam Roberts aka @escapingstars on IG:

Full moon Scorpio

The Sakki Sakki tarot deck by Monicka Clio Sakki which is still my favourite tarot deck especially for questions around creativity. My overall thoughts and questions for this time were focused on entrepreneurship, creativity and success. So a perfect match!

It was a quiet morning with a lime, basil and mandarin candle and lots of thoughts of how to make this creativity of mine into a new career, life and lifestyle.

Tarot reading:

So here’s the reading laid out on a beautiful piece of linen, hand sewn by my mother, because she is all important right now, it’s Mother’s Day on Sunday, and I’m thinking of her love and strength.

tarot reading

I pulled the cards one by one as I like the mystery of discovery and interpreting each card in itself and then putting the narrative together. But first up – look at all those Swords! Three cards from the suit of Swords and five of the cards have swords featured. And I’m sure The Chariot driver might even have a sword hidden somewhere in his belt!

Swords are all about the intellect, strategy, cut through, getting the story together – the mastery of it all. As an INTJ in Myer-Briggs personality preference, swords (closely followed by Wands) are my favourite suit in tarot. And the Queen of Swords who appears here is the card that most aligns to my core personality. Introverted Intuition is a dominant gift for me but it’s combining that intuition with the intellect where I can really shine.

And with three Major Arcana cards also: The Chariot, The Emperor and Justice – there’s some really strong energy here to work with about breaking through, taking leadership, getting organised and balancing competing energies to get something really special happening.

Tarot reading – card by card:

So here’s some deeper thoughts, card by card, in relation to the questions. I mainly worked intuitively with some key supporting words from the Sakki Sakki tarot guidebook.

1 Which area of my life needs to be valued more? The CHARIOT

  • bringing together diverse interests
  • balancing light and shadow
  • managing polarities positively
  • driving forward with strength

Key words from the Sakki Sakki tarot: combining thought and feeling: “how conflict can be resolved positively through struggles in our own psyche”

One of the key things I have been experiencing and working on this year is this managing of polarities, especially between thought and feeling. This card says it’s time to work those opposites and harness them into something that is uniquely me and values this.

2 How can I best get my needs met? The EMPEROR

  • bring in some of that yang, masculine energy!
  • be organised, take control, practice leadership, self-leadership
  • be active, not passive or waiting for others, take the lead
  • marshall my resources, call the shots
  • get those organising principles sorted, set the framework
  • get some order and structure in place

Key words from Sakki Sakki tarot: “The Emperor is the rational mind controlling creative flow and emotions, maximizing their potential within a framework.”

It’s true – I need a framework for my days and routine even if it’s a flexible one. I need to work out how to manage and balance my different needs and those of others. I need structure to reach my vision and goals as well as meet my own self-care needs. And it’s about taking the lead more in my life, that self-leadership, that will enable me to do this and get my needs met.

3 What depths within myself need to be explored in order to move forward?

PAGE OF SWORDS

  • listening to myself, those thought bubbles and creative ideas that come
  • dance with them a little more, play with the intellect and ideas to connect them
  • bring forward new opportunities by being agile and tapping into my sources of knowledge and using them in new ways
  • creative innovation

Key words from Sakki Sakki tarot: alert, versatile, quick-minded, well-informed, charming inside and outside

This is interesting. I know that the INTP from Myers-Briggs is the sort that has eight books on the go – with lots of ideas and opportunities to connect them. And I do feel that energy right now. I need to tap more into this well-informed body of knowledge, the intellectual and emotional value built up over time from all that I have read, experienced and learned. And I need to work out ways to share that to move forward. It’s things like combining books, coaching, MBTI, writing and tarot in unique ways to serve and support other people as well as myself on this journey.

4 What aid comes from the Universe to guide me?   QUEEN OF SWORDS

  • energy of thought, intellect, discernment, power of the mind
  • ability to cut through to what matters, to weave a path through a thought jungle
  • ability to create a strategy for creative entrepreneurship
  • success through clarity of thought
  • trust, stop doubting and commit

Key words from Sakki Sakki tarot: wise, intellectual, independent, courageous, learning through painful experiences.

It’s always exciting when a card you strongly relate to comes in as aid from the Universe to guide you. Perhaps it’s always so but I do need the Queen of Swords and her INTJ thinking about feelings right now. It’s about digging into my own brand of unique wisdom and thought but feeling into it as well. I need to let my intellect take the leadership in this self-leadership journey as all the swords are suggesting. But it’s wisdom from spirit and strength to cut a swathe to balance those polarities into a life and creative path that is uniquely mine. It’s intellectual ideas and playing with them creatively, Page of Swords style!

5 What boundaries must I create for myself ? SIX OF SWORDS

  • energy at a time of transition
  • knowing what to take forward, what to leave behind
  • moving on through grief, sadness so that positive energy can come through
  • keep water around me, space around me so can travel creatively where I need to go
  • space for creative spiritual journeys
  • boundaries and supports around balancing self-care whilst caring for others

Key words from Sakki Sakki tarot: spiritual journey, travel, release of anxiety, progress in spite of past difficulties, advancement through detachment

The Six of Swords is the card that symbolised this new life journey in my Welcome message to my new Quiet Writing site. It’s a beautiful card of transition and crossing the water, and taking some things on board and leaving others behind. It’s a time of creating boundaries around energy and self-care too. These are all things I have been experiencing and learning through coaching and through working with intuitive healer Amber Adrian. It also reinforces that home, where I am surrounded by water, is healing and critical to my health and creative wellbeing.

6 What needs to be done NOW to lay the foundation for my higher vision of my Self ? JUSTICE

  • getting balance and alignment in my life
  • using that energy of the swords to create discernment, strategy and cut through
  • make the path and settle any transition issues that I can resolve so I can move through
  • decide on portions of time and focus, adjust priorities and restore balance in line with my goals

Key words from Sakki Sakki tarot: balance: “Justice is Wise, and holds the Sword that slices up everything into fair portions. To achieve balance and fairness, sometimes you have to give something up – other times you have to accept more.”

Justice suggests it’s time to work with the swords to identify the best apportioning of my time in line with my priorities. This is a theme throughout this reading. It suggests that it’s a fluid process in line with this Scorpio Full Moon energy and that I need also to remember to enjoy it all. Do the work, set the framework and identify the priorities but include joy and fun in there as well. Creativity is joyful and as the words from Mystic Mamma above reminds us,

take pleasure in the journey and allow our watery depths to surface, cleanse, heal and empower.

Ways to embrace mastery

So are your thoughts also around mastery of a skill or project and how to make your creativity into a new career, life and lifestyle?

If so, here are some questions around this prompted by the Scorpio full moon, the tarot spread by Sam Roberts and reflections on my own tarot reading.

They are around embracing mastery and getting back into the driver’s seat in creativity and entrepreneurial plans.

Journal or brainstorm around them to help your own dance of mastery begin to unfold further at this time of opportunity:

  • What is it you want to master and why?
  • Where do you have comprehensive skill and knowledge and how can you step into that more?
  • What will help you be the leader of this creative project – Emperor-style?
  • Where can you practice strong self-leadership?
  • What polarities or diverse qualities can you balance or bring together in a unique way?
  • Where is the light and shadow in your life and what can they bring out in each other in your project or creative work?
  • What areas of your life do you need to value more, Chariot-style, where you might be breaking new ground?
  • Where are you not trusting your strong natural or developed knowledge and skill? How can you tap into this more?
  • How can you best get your needs met and set some boundaries? Is it more structure or less? Is it a rigid or flexible framework? Do you need more routine?
  • Danielle LaPorte has a series of wisdom paradoxes in her new White Hot Truth book and summarised here. Think about paradox as a key to mastering a project or skill and feeling balanced: How can you have vision and go with the flow? How can you be open-hearted and have clear boundaries as you work?
  • Where you can take pleasure in and enjoy this journey to mastery?

Wisdom from The Chariot

And here is some final wisdom from The Chariot via the Art of Life Tarot:

The Chariot

May the unique vision and value of what you love be the energy that propels you to new places of mastery. May you share your loves with us and may you enjoy the dance.

Full Moon image from pexels.com and used with permission and thanks.

Keep in touch

Quiet Writing is on Facebook – Please visit here and ‘Liketo keep in touch and interact with the growing Quiet Writing community. There are regular posts on tarot, intuition, influence, passion, creativity, productivity, writing, voice, introversion and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).

Subscribe via email (see the link at the top and below) to make sure you receive updates from Quiet Writing and its passions in 2017. This includes MBTI developments, coaching, creativity and other connections to help express your unique voice in the world. New opportunities and special offers coming soon including probono coaching opportunities.

If you enjoyed this post, please share via your preferred social media channel – links are below.

You might also enjoy:

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The Empress: creativity, vision and patience

Dance to a new beat – Full Moon in Virgo

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